Legislature in brief: March 16, 2014

Sunday

Mar 16, 2014 at 6:00 AM

Notes from legislative session for March 16.

Kelly Connelly,Capitol Correspondent

Two bills sponsored by Sen. Troy Brown, D-Napoleonville, that could make building infrastructure easier for parishes and municipalities are awaiting their first committee hearing in the Senate.Senate Bill 91 creates an exemption for the process projects must go through to get construction money from the state in connection with a disaster. “Projects must demonstrate an imminent public need. Without the project, it would be of detriment to the area,” Brown said.A state of emergency must have been declared, but the disaster could be natural or man-made, such as a hurricane or a chemical spill.“The goal in mind is to set it up so that the state would be reimbursed by FEMA,” Brown said.Senate Bill 297 would allow local municipalities and parishes to take advantage of similar methods of financing that the state uses to pay for large projects. It would allow local entities to enter into cooperative endeavor agreements with corporations that are financially stable and pay certain taxes in the area. Local entities could replace local tax payments with payments for projects and offer an incentive.“To get you to do this, we'll give you a tax break on top of that,” Brown reasoned.

Sen. Bret Allain, R-Jeanerette, said his bill, Senate Bill 344, which would allow recreational fishermen to bring their catches into restaurants to have them prepared, will boost tourism.“There are fish that commercial fishermen can't sell,” Allain said. “If you can catch a better fish, you can bring it in.”Allain said that his favorite seafood restaurant sometimes don't have the fish he's looking for. This bill would allow, for example, a fisherman to bring in speckled trout that may be bigger or better than what the restaurant would serve, Allain said.Restaurants will have to be licensed to participate in the program, as will fishermen.The bill would require certain identification measures for fishermen, the identification of fish that are brought in, the date and location of the catch, and signs in the restaurant that indicate noncommercial fish are being prepared in the restaurant.

After long voicing opposition to lawmakers' perk to annually award a constituent a scholarship to Tulane University, Rep. Dee Richard, a Thibodaux independent, is again bringing a bill to kill the program.Richard brought, and later pulled, a similar bill during his first legislative session. After publicity last fall, the program has less support than it did the last time he introduced the measure.The program originated more than 100 years ago when university officials made a deal with the Legislature to trade the scholarships for tax beaks.“Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right,” Richard has said of the program.Richard's House Bill 74 isn't the only legislation dealing with scholarships. He's also sponsoring House Bill 334, which would remove university board members' ability to dole out scholarships.